After arriving in Paris, we transfer to Giverny to visit Claude Monet’s garden; the more formal Clos Normand where only plants of the same hue bloom at the same time, and the famous water garden where he painted his water lilies.  Then on to Le Verger De Giverny with more than 4,000 apple trees of 10 cider varieties where we’ll see how cider is made using traditional methods.

Overnight Rouen. D

We’ll enjoy a walking tour of Rouen including the Notre-Dame Cathedral and the marketplace where Joan of Arc died in 1431. Next, visit Les Jardins d’Angélique, created in memory of the owners’ daughter around a lovely manor house. More intimate, with the feel of an English country garden, white, pink and blue predominate. We finish the day at Le Jardin de Valérianes. An informal 3-acre garden with a pond at its centre, it is a subtle composition of perennials and roses with winding paths and a fine collection of trees and hydrangeas. 

Overnight Rouen. B

In the morning we’ll visit Lyons-la-Forêt, a village in the heart of Normandy’s largest forest with charming half-timbered, pink brick or tinted cob (clay and straw) houses. We’ll explore the beautiful 18th-century timber-framed covered market with its fresh produce, cheese, and local products. After lunch, we visit Les Jardins Agapanthe, a tapestry of verdant greens punctuated with white and blue flowers with masses of hydrangeas, a tunnel draped in wisteria and, of course, the blue agapanthus. Our final stop of the day will be the Château de Miromesnil in a woodland setting with a formal walled potager. Restored by the grandmother of the current owners, it overflows with vegetables, fruit and flowers and includes a fine collection of clematis and an ancient Cedar of Lebanon. 

Overnight Varengeville sur Mer. BD

L’Etang de Launay was created by Jean-Louis Dantec, a former art dealer. The 6-hectare sloping site is home to thousands of species, including hydrangeas, dogwoods, maples, Prunus, conifers and especially birch. There is an emphasis on bark. After lunch, visit Camembert le 5 frères, a working cheese farm that produces a raw milk camembert cheese molded by ladle and hand. Next, Le Jardin du Vastérival. Created by Princess Sturdza in 1958, the thirty acres of informal, sloping woodland includes many rare and unusual trees such as Cornus controversa ‘Variegata” as well as maples, conifers, hydrangeas and hellebores. 

Overnight Varengeville sur Mer. BD

Our morning visit is to the Château de Mesnil Geoffroy, a French-style park with its maze, a ha-ha, orchard, aviary and kitchen garden. It is best known as the largest private rose garden in Normandy with 1,756 varieties with an emphasis on their history and perfumes. We continue to Les Jardins d’Etretat, situated on top of cliffs overlooking the iconic "Needle" of the Etretat coast of  Normandy. On less than 2 acres, its sculptured futuristic hedges, topiary and outdoor modern art are breath-taking. Next, a walking tour along the cobblestone streets of Honfleur and its harbour which inspired impressionist painters such as Eugene Boudin and Claude Monet. We’ll visit the famous medieval St. Catherine’s Church, the oldest wooden church in France. 

Overnight Honfleur. B

Our first visit: Le Château Champ de Bataille, the very formal French-style gardens that were recreated by Jacques Garcia in 1992 on the basis of the original plans with parterres, vistas, fountains and sculptured hedges. Next stop is the Château de Boutemont. We enter through a long allee of topiary, clipped boxwood and white roses. It includes an orangery, potager, a butterfly garden, fragrant garden, and a red garden in a series of outdoor “rooms.”  Don’t miss the topiary caterpillar climbing out of the now dry moat. Our third chateau today is Château de Canon, with its “chartreuses”, a series of magnificent walled gardens bursting with flowers; formal gardens with vistas, water and clipped hedges; and an informal landscape of woods and water. 

Overnight Bayeux. B

We begin with a walking tour of Medieval Bayeux, the first city in France to be liberated following the 1944 Normandy Landings. It is best known for the Bayeux tapestry, commemorating events of the Norman Conquest of England in 1066.  After lunch, travel to the Juno Beach Centre, highlighting Canada’s contribution to WW II. The exhibits revolve around emotion, reflection, discovery and remembrance. We’ll wander through Juno Park along Juno Beach and explore the historic site through the remains of the Atlantic Wall. Our day concludes with Les Jardins de Castillon-Plantbessin, a small garden created in 1985, with a series of themed gardens on three terraces: a labyrinth, a small arboretum, a long English style border  and a water garden. There is emphasis on foliage and texture with contemporary garden sculpture throughout. 

Overnight Bayeux. B

This morning we leave Normandy, driving south to the Loire Valley. After lunch, a visit to Château du Rivau, a medieval château surrounded by 15 acres of gardens with a contemporary naturalistic feel but inspired by fairy-tales and legends. It includes an enormous potager with giant vegetables, a lavender knot garden, and almost 500 varieties of fragrant roses. We’ll also tour the 15th century medieval castle and the royal stables. 

Overnight Chinon. B

The Loire Valley is known as the ‘Garden of France’ and Château Villandry is one of the most amazing of its gardens. Restored in 1906, the garden made use of an 18th century network of canals, waterworks and terraces. Covering 9 hectares, the gardens are on three levels and intricately patterned with boxwood parterres: a formal water garden with ponds and fountains, an ornamental flower garden and the famous potager -  a vegetable garden extraordinaire of colour coordinated perfectly grown vegetables surrounded by espaliered apples and fruit. Continue to Château Chenonceau, a restored formal Renaissance garden of 4 acres with gentle scrolls of santolina hedges, an orangery and kitchen garden. Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II and Diane de Poitiers, his mistress, both created gardens here. Catherine's garden features an avenue of orange trees, climbing roses and flower borders edging a moat. In 1825, the English style green garden was created for the Countess of Villeneuve. We’ll end the day with a visit to a wine cellar (tasting included!). 

Overnight Chinon. B

In the morning, we’ll visit Château Chaumont, also associated with Henry II’s wife and mistress. The historic apartments of Catherine de Médici and Diane de Poitiers both furnished in 16th century style while the dining room and main salon are decorated in a more recent style. The gardens are less formal than those found at many of the Loire castles, and include a wooded parkland and kitchen garden. An annual Garden Festival allows contemporary garden designers to display their work within this English-style garden. Lunch in Chaumont-sur-Loire before driving to Paris. 

Overnight in Paris. B

Today will be a full day visit to Versailles. Our guided tour of the palace is complete with lesser known stories and facts and will include the ornate King and Queen's state apartments, their salons with elaborate ceiling paintings as well as the glittering Hall of Mirrors. Then the gardens! Designed by Andre Le Notre in 1661 on what was then a marshy plain, they cover 7400 acres in the formal French baroque style. They are highly geometric with parterres, canals, over 600 jet fountains and a myriad of mythical beasts and classical god statuary. Our visit concludes with the gardens of the King's Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon and the picturesque Queen's Hamlet, where the royal family could retreat from the formality of Versailles. 

Overnight Paris. B

After a city tour of Paris, including the Arc De Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and Champs Elysees, we’ll stop and visit four gardens. Jardin du Luxembourg, commissioned in 1612 by Marie de’ Medici, is one of the most beautiful parks in Paris. Overflowing with parterres and flowers, it includes an orangery, the Fountains of the Medici and ornate statuary. Jardin des Tuileries, which separates the Louvre from the Place de la Concorde, is an open garden ideal for walking - or for sitting on the many green metal chairs or wooden benches. L’Orangery houses Monet’s Water Lilies. The Jardins du Trocadero, created for the Universal Exposition in 1937, offer a stunning view of the Eiffel Tower. Its Warsaw fountains with 20 water cannons provide a remarkable display. Parc André Citroen, one of the newest parks in Paris, is the only green space in Paris that opens directly onto the River Seine. It is divided into three themed areas: the Jardin Blanc (white garden), the Jardin Noir (black garden) and the large central park area including the six gardens of the senses.

Farewell dinner and overnight Paris. BD

Transfer to Charles de Gaulle airport for return flight home. B

Retired as the Horticultural Specialist, University of Saskatchewan, Sara Williams has been hosting garden tours for over 20 years - to Great Britain, Ireland, and further afield to Turkey, Iceland and Morocco. She is the author of many gardening books, including Growing Fruit in Northern Gardens with Bob Bors; and with Hugh Skinner, Gardening Naturally: A chemical-free handbook for the Prairies, Best Trees and Shrubs for the Prairies, and Best Groundcovers and Vines for the Prairies. 

Bernadette Vangool is a self-taught gardener who has been gardening on her little plot in Saskatoon for forty years. She joined the Saskatchewan Perennial Society Board in 2004 and has overseen the planting and maintenance of the Meditation and Heritage Rose gardens at the Saskatoon Forestry Farm Park since 2003 in a volunteer capacity. Bernadette enjoys traveling and has joined Sara on several gardening tours.

Gardens of Normandy And The Loire Valley Includes:

• 12 Nights hotels with daily breakfast
• Meals:  4 dinners, 3 course & coffee.  Drinks are not included. 
• 34 Seater Motor Coach with air-conditioning and panoramic windows
• Entrance fees for visits and activities per itinerary (22 gardens, apple orchard, cheese farm, walking tours of Rouen, Honfleur and Bayeux, Lyons-la-Forêt market, Juno Beach Centre, Versailles, Paris City bus tour, and wine & calvados tastings.
• English-speaking Guide
  
  

Gardens of Normandy And The Loire Valley Doesn’t Include: 

• International Airfare
• Travel Insurance (highly recommended)
• Accommodation and meals not included in the itinerary
• Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks
• Excursions, activities, and entrance fees not included in the itinerary
• Gratuities to guides
• Personal Items